Fred Ross

For now, the bitterness of an unceremonious end of a 42-year coaching career at Stroudsburg has been replaced by the "Sweetest Place on Earth" for Fred Ross. The Catasauqua native and longtime Mountaineers coach is loving his experience as an assistant coach for Pennsylvania in Saturday night's 54th annual Big 33 Football Classic at Hersheypark Stadium. Ross is coaching the Keystone State linebackers, including Central Catholic's Shane McNeely, and is enjoying being around the kids and other coaches who are preparing to face Ohio's best in one of the country's most prestigious scholastic all-star events.

By Keith Groller, Of The Morning Call and By Keith Groller, Of The Morning Call | May 3, 2013

The six new inductees into the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame Lehigh Valley Chapter came from different towns, made their mark at different schools, and, in some cases, came from different eras. But when Bob Clark, Don Clemons, John Marcante, Fred Ross, Bob Shriver and Jim Tkach were honored on Friday night at the Northampton Community Center, they all delivered a common message. And, that, in a nutshell, was how football, their hometown communities and so many different people shaped their lives and how they couldn't have done it alone, especially without their families.

Stroudsburg High School football teams posted a combined record of 2-20 in 1967-'68. District officials decided it was time for a change and, when they threw open the head coaching position, some 90 candidates came forth. The school board, at the time, included a man named Cap Curtis, who had coached the Mountaineers for 13 seasons in the 1920s, '30s and '40s. His main objective in selecting a new football coach was that the man not be someone who would come in and use the youngsters for his own gain.

When it comes to Mountain Valley Conference football in 2011, the first thing you'll notice is who's not there. After 42 seasons, Fred Ross will no longer be patrolling the Stroudsburg High sidelines. His unceremonious ouster last fall was one of the big news stories of 2010, and saddened many in the local football community who had tremendous respect for Ross and his legacy in Monroe County. But Stroudsburg enters a new era with another familiar face. Joe Bernard, a Moravian College grad who coached at Bethlehem Catholic under Bob Stem in the 1980s and then was an assistant and head coach at Nazareth in the early 1990s, is now in charge.

When it came to choosing playoff teams, PIAA football bureaucrats became constipated. "How do we include a team with a regular season tie? "Let's flip a coin at the end of regulation. The winner has a choice of offense or defense. Put the ball at the 10 with four chances to score for each. Whoever scores the most points wins. No ties, no problems." Putting the ball at the 10-yard line favors running teams and prejudices a passing club. From the 10, the aerial game is limited to a 20-yard field.

Fred Ross has seen just about everything there is to see in his 34 years as the Stroudsburg High football coach. But he's never seen a 1-6 start. A combination of injuries, bad breaks and the inability to replace some key players from last year's 6-6 squad have left the Mountaineers in a tailspin they hope to escape when they welcome equally scuffling Pocono Mountain East tonight. Ross is one of the sport's good guys and good coaches. He has won 230 games in his career along with 11 titles.

With 32 past Stroudsburg High teams to use for reference, Fred Ross and his staff had a pretty reliable sample. So they did a little research. And they discovered a magic number: 17. "We went back and looked at all our teams here," he said. "Our good ones and our bad ones. And we found that all the good ones had at least 17 bonafide varsity players, 17 kids who could line up on Friday night and play quality offense and defense. Our lesser teams didn't. "It seems to be the magic number.

Considering Stroudsburg and East Stroudsburg South shared the Mountain Valley Conference championship, their annual Thanksgiving Day rivalry could turn into something of a mock title game. Just don't tell the opposing coaches that. Stroudsburg coach Fred Ross, whose team finished 7-4 (5-1 MVC), said that his team's 41-7 win over the Cavaliers in the regular season should carry some weight toward the league championship. "I look at it like we beat them in head-to-head competition," Ross said.

Back in 1974, Fred Ross knew Beth Scheller only superficially. He was a teacher and the head football coach at Stroudsburg High; she was a student and captain of the cheerleading squad, but wasn't in any of his classes. He got to know her better in 1978 when Beth, freshly graduated from the University of Alabama, also began teaching at Stroudsburg. In 1982, he married her. Today, she's his boss -- literally as well as figuratively. Beth Ross became Stroudsburg's athletic director in the summer of 1993.

For now, the bitterness of an unceremonious end of a 42-year coaching career at Stroudsburg has been replaced by the "Sweetest Place on Earth" for Fred Ross. The Catasauqua native and longtime Mountaineers coach is loving his experience as an assistant coach for Pennsylvania in Saturday night's 54th annual Big 33 Football Classic at Hersheypark Stadium. Ross is coaching the Keystone State linebackers, including Central Catholic's Shane McNeely, and is enjoying being around the kids and other coaches who are preparing to face Ohio's best in one of the country's most prestigious scholastic all-star events.

Fred Ross isn't looking at anything that happens during this 2010 football season as "the last this, or the last that. " The Stroudsburg coach, an icon in Monroe County, is in his 42 n d season as coach at Stroudsburg High School. But it's expected to be his last — and not by his choice. He was told a few days prior to the start of the season by superintendent John Toleno that his position would be opened after this season. Talking earlier this week, Ross said "nothing has changed" since news broke in September about his status.

Maybe most people in the Lehigh Valley don't know Fred Ross. If you don't, he is the Catty native who has been the football coach at Stroudsburg High School for 42 seasons. I don't have his overall record, but my guess is that he's won at least 350 games over the last four decades. He has had some good football teams, five of them making it to the District 11 finals since they began doing district championships in 1988, and 13 of his teams have won league championships.

Fred Ross and his Stroudsburg Mountaineers were in limbo last week. While rival East Stroudsburg South prepared for Saturday's District 11 Class 4A semifinal with Parkland, the Stroudsburg coach and his team also went about their normal weekly routine. Except the Mountaineers were practicing for a game that might not have been played, their annual Thanksgiving morning clash with the Cavaliers. If East Stroudsburg had beaten Parkland to reach Saturday's district championship game, today's game would have been canceled under an agreement between the schools to prevent either from playing two games in three days -- something Easton will do a second straight season this year and the Cavaliers did in 1995 when they won the District 11 title.

Christian Rodriguez was the backup quarterback to Dan Persa on Liberty's 2006 PIAA Class 4A runner-up team as a sophomore, and it appeared that he was destined to be the starter the next two seasons. Athletic, 6-foot and almost 200 pounds, Rodriguez appeared to have all the credentials necessary to succeed the greatest quarterback in school history. Then, along came Anthony Gonzalez, who beat out Rodriguez and Jarrod West for the starting nod in 2007. It was a tough blow, but Rodriguez has overcome adversity his entire life and he was bent on doing the same in the sport he loves the most.

By Tim Shoemaker Special to The Morning Call - Freelance | November 28, 2008

Collin Hegarty said he knew he was going to get the ball a little more often than usual Thursday morning, but little did he know that he was going to get a season's worth of carries. Hegarty had 19 carries for 165 yards and one touchdown in East Stroudsburg South's first 11 games this season, but had a season-within-a-season in the Cavaliers' 34-0 win over Stroudsburg in the 64th battle for the Little Brown Jug. Hegarty rushed 16 times for 185 yards and four touchdowns -- two in the first quarter, one in the third and one in the fourth -- as Eastburg uncharacteristically chose to run more than pass.

Donald R. Buzzard, 93, passed away Friday, June 20, 2008, at Brookmont Health Care Center, in Brodheadsville. He was the husband of the late Ethel (Ross) Buzzard who died in 2002. They were married for more than 50 years at the time of her death. Born June 4, 1915, in Pen Argyl, he was the son of the late Charles and Connie Buzzard. He was a graduate of Pen Argyl High School and went on the Moravian College, graduating in 1939. Wile at Moravian, Jake, as he was know to his classmates, played football, basketball and baseball.

By Tim Shoemaker Special to The Morning Call - Freelance | November 27, 2008

The moment of truth came early this year for the East Stroudsburg High School South football team. Junior linebacker Sam Bergen, already receiving interest from colleges such as Notre Dame, Penn State, Illinois, Rutgers, Stanford and Boston College, tore up his right knee on a running play in the second game of the season at Delaware Valley. The news was grim: Bergen is now rehabbing a torn ACL and lateral meniscus. The atmosphere on the Cavalier bench was grimmer: "It was sort of like sticking a pin in a balloon," coach Ed Christian said.

By Tom De Martini Special to The Morning Call - Freelance | October 11, 2008

Stroudsburg football coach Fred Ross decided it was high time to put the football in the hands of his most skilled offensive player Friday night. Ross' decision to move quarterback Jeremy Desire to tailback paid huge dividends as the junior rushed for 217 yards on 23 carries and two touchdowns to lead theÂ MountaineersÂ to a 28-14 Mountain Valley Conference victory over Lehighton on Homecoming Night. "Jeremy had always been a running back and his ability to throw gives us another dimension," Ross said.